This invention relates to trailer hitches and more particularly to a method and means for pivoting a hitch receiver with a ball mount member mounted therein from towing position to stored position.
Trailer hitches conventionally have been mounted to the frames of vehicles at the rear adjacent the bumper. Typically they have consisted of an elongated hollow hitch receiver mounted on the vehicle and a ball mount member adapted to be selectively inserted into the receiver and secured with the towing ball extending rearward in operative position. With no trailer attached the ball mount has presented a hazard to persons passing the rear of the vehicle and accordingly the ball mount is usually detached when not in use. Once removed the ball mount must be stowed inside the vehicle or risk loss and/or unavailability when needed. When stored in the vehicle the ball mount frequently becomes a deadly missile in the event of an accident.
Various attempts have been made to provide a ball mount that can be rotated from a towing position to a retracted position such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,900 to Tate in which he provides a horizontal rotatable draw plate carry a ball and U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,930 to Philall which shows a pivotally mounted tow bar 10 which may be pivoted to a retracted position. None of the art has addressed the pivoting of the conventional hitch receiver with or without a removable ball mount mounted therein from an operating extended position to a retracted stored position as shown herein.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a pivotally mounted hitch receiver for standard ball mount tow bars that can be easily moved from towing position to stored position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pivotally mounted hitch receiver capable of safely engaging large size tow bars such as class 4, 5, and larger.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hitch receiver that may be moved from operating position to stored position with or without a ball mount member fixed therein.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide hitch receiver that is simple and economical to manufacture, safe and easy to use, and in stowage mode positions a ball mount in a fully retracted position so that it can not be contacted accidentally by a persons legs as they walk behind a vehicle.
These and other and further objects are accomplished in an embodiment of the present invention in which a hitch receiver is hingedly mounted between a pair of horizontal plates for pivotal movement from a rearward facing position to a side facing position.